


Shards of Past and Future Memories

by Ncie0h43nnbfej2



Category: HEARTBEAT (Video Game)
Genre: Beaches, Canon Related, F/F, Gen, Melancholy, Memories, Romance, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-03
Updated: 2019-12-03
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:35:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21658399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ncie0h43nnbfej2/pseuds/Ncie0h43nnbfej2
Summary: Nile remembers the escape and what followed. The others' memories and feelings are connected.
Relationships: Ark Valic/Nile Foras
Kudos: 5





	Shards of Past and Future Memories

**Author's Note:**

> This is a bit fragmented, but I hope it will be enjoyable to read!
> 
> This fic was written for Shepple's birthday.
> 
> Warning! This fanfic may have smoking in it.

Cold evening wind. The chill, it was always a sign of great sadness to come. Even then, she wasn’t able to tell what was going to happen in the future. Only look back into her own past, think and memorize. Remember why she was here now.

She looked at Tate, who was sitting on the beach - quite far away from their home - staring up at the sky, at the blinking stars, unseen planets and glowing moons. Nile wondered whether it was all going to repeat itself. Were they really destined to go, or, in fact, were making a great mistake - thinking about leaving Solum, the place that welcomed them again and again? The hunger in their eyes turned towards the dark unknown of the space. The greed. The directives.

The Captain twisted his heels on the floor tiles, leaving large dark marks each time. You could always tell where in the lab he went, track him like a hunter would stalk the prey. Except for the fact the Captain was just too big for anyone to chew through. The situation they all were in didn’t make it any easier.

He was large, almost towering over her father - a rather fragile gentleman in a bit of a worn lab coat. Such things were items of legacy. Passed on, and on. Everyone knew. Especially the Captain, who lit up a short stub of a cigar, still confident despite the attribute’s lack of… everything, in fact. Barely any flavour in it. Dr. Foras not only grew tired of begging the Captain to abstain from smoking in the Marine Lab, but also realized that it ultimately didn’t mean anything as of late. The smoke, or steam, rather, spread so slowly…

“Dr. Foras, I assume you’re keeping up with with the power savings quota? The maintenance is important, there is no doubt, but you must understand what we’re facing here…”

“Captain, with all due respect, the current regime feels as if… as if there’s a noose around my neck, and you keep tightening it, then releasing, it’s just becoming impossible to work!” her father complained, trailing behind the Captain, who was walking around the Lab like he owned it. He did, unfortunately for the scientist.

“That’s what you think. The whole ship obeys these rules. You have to, as well, or we’ll be forced to sacrifice a tank or two,” he said, exhaling a big cloud of thin, transparent smoke, then pointing around the room in a quick, lazy gesture.

“T-there is no way we are doing that. What- what about the lounges?! Surely you could divert power… you could, couldn’t you? Our mission was to collect, research, contain,” Dr. Foras said, getting rather heated about it. He cared about the subjects in the Lab, in his own odd way.

“Your mission, Doctor.”

The air in the Lab was conditioned. Chilly.

“My mission?”

“Yes, your mission was. And still is. However,” the Captain made a sharp turn, his shiny boots leaving marks on the floor again, “I happen to have a mission, too. An important one. You see…”

He leaned forward, so their eyes would be on the same level. It was apparent how awful that made the scientist feel, his lip trembling, his eyes turning away, yet he himself didn’t have any power to walk away, to ignore the incoming lecture. In a way, he was also curious. Disobedience always brought not only punishment to a crewman, but also clarity to subjects the Royalty didn’t want the commoners to be concerned about. The Captain knew such things. And as a researcher, Dr. Foras just couldn’t resist. He felt a strong hand squeeze his shoulder.

“There’s a good reason the Captains of this ship were brought up in the managers’ strain. Not researchers like you. Not warriors, like the ones that got their vessels torn to pieces by Xothian scum in the first stages of our expedition. One good, good reason that makes me feel alive every time I think about it. Do you know what that would be?”

Smoke was exhaled right into the Doctor’s face.

“I have a theory…”

“Keep it for your egghead meeting next weekcycle. I’ll tell you - it’s because I know when rules can be broken, and when rules must be respected. I don’t ‘dare’, I don’t ‘follow orders’, I have nothing to prove to anyone. There’s a directive above all directives that people tend to forget about - it’s a directive to survive. The rules that were made for us are just, are good, but they didn’t withstand the test of time and the struggle we faced with the Xothians… Do you really think we’d survive if some ambitious fool like you held the wheel? Or someone like our past security chief? I manage you. And everyone else. The Royalty made sure we know our places, for the best reasons.”

The Lab was empty, Dr. Foras noticed. All others had left a while ago, perhaps not wishing to intrude.

“Please, Captain. Spare our research. It could be valuable… it could help us later. I will be more attentive,” he spoke up, finally, but then was interrupted by the captain again, feeling the grip on his shoulder tighten.

“You are very, very smart, Dr. Foras. You should be smart enough to understand that our work will never be done. We survive. I bring us to safety…”

“What?”

“I’m bringing us back.”

His heart skipped a few beats, he opened his mouth to breathe.

“Back to the old planet? But-”

“This is how the Royalty would do, if they knew,” the Captain said. He pulled a pocket watch out and took a good look at it. Weekcycles, universal frozen time. They’ve visited many worlds and many places, prepared for changes, but the Solum seconds carried over for generations. Time mercilessly went on. He continued, “We go back. We grow. We try again. We will keep trying until the directives are fulfilled. It’s just a minor setback. Others will surely follow, if they have a head on top of their shoulders, still. Now. You know enough to stop being such a nuisance to me. Extend my best wishes to your wife,” the Captain said, finally letting go.

“Certainly…”

As if feeling guilty for the outburst - although a very calm but intimidating one - the Captain shifts the topic.

“I suppose the young one is doing fine?”

“Ah- yes. She is growing, very healthy,” the Doctor laughs a little bit, closing his eyes. Relief.

“I expect nothing but gain from your family. For generations to come. Perhaps make a couple more?” he laughed. It felt weird, but it wasn’t unusual.

“I suppose, erm, when we get back then… Wouldn’t having one more mouth to feed be a problem?”

“Ah. Good thinking. And speaking of which, perhaps I’ll listen to that idea we had here, about the lounges. We could certainly close down several of those to use the resources for something more useful. I’ll have to speak to Dr. Dramm about making entertaining education for our next generation. Perhaps, take part in experiments more?”

“As long as it would be safe, Captain.”

Maybe if it hadn’t been for that bright idea, she wouldn’t have met Ark in time. The experiments was something she hated, but they introduced her to the meaning of life she’d later discover.

It was still rather peculiar, remembering the things she thought she’d have forgotten by now. Accessing her memories was so easy on Solum - that is, on the ground of the actual planet, not hanging above it in a spaceship.

Their new home. They had to struggle quite a bit to gain it.

“Tate, come over! The meal’s getting cold… you can eat the moons later! Tate!” Nile called out to her mogwai friend. She Tate look back at her, smiling. “Come on! Tate!”

“Tate! Tate?! I think she’s-”

“Everyone calm down!”

“H-how can I calm down?! She’s out cold!”

“Well, at least you girls know how to swim underwater, I bet!”

“Why does it feel like we’re still going down?!” Ark was holding Tate under her arm, and jolting and darting around the pod.

“That’s because we ARE! Ark, please- Just keep them both safe, I’ll think of something.”

Ark then also grabbed the unhatched egg. Her eyes were open wide, furious, she was panicking, but tried very hard to show only the least of it. As their pod was slowly sinking, she realized over time that her human friend, her saviour actually wouldn’t survive the pressure of the waters on Solum if they went any deeper.

She had to repay her.

“Open the pod.”

“W-what? Wait, we need to think!”

“No. I’m done thinking! We are leaving,” Ark growled. It must’ve scared Nile - the mogwai’s full form was too intimidating to argue with. “Put this stupid suit on. Hurry!”

She gave her friend some time to suit up. The little vision they had of what’s outside was getting darker with each second. Sinking. When Nile was done, Ark commanded her to strap the container in which the egg was to the suit, then they would be going. After that was done - after several failures as everything kept slipping out of Nile’s hands, making her panic more than ever in her life - Ark grabbed Nile by her suit’s fabric on the back, then grabbed unconscious Tate.

“How do I open the pod?”

“Uh- ah- you have to enter the code…”

“Damn it. Screw the code.”

Ark began kicking down the hull window of the pod which had already been damaged by the impact with water when they landed. They didn’t have enough time to configure it properly during their escape, and the ship was hovering too low above Solum, which resulted in them simply almost falling out of the spaceship in the pod.

In the end, it shattered, and the brave isonade carried all of her friends out of harm’s way. Even then, they had to keep walking - the humans from H.M.S. Tenebro could be following them soon.

They eventually found a good spot in the wild, near the beach, overlooking a large ocean on Solum. Nile only saw it from above. Now, she had almost drowned in it, but soon made peace with the body of water. It would feed her new family. Survival continued for her, just not in the way the directives created by human explorers imagined it. She dared.

Ark’s strength and nativity to Solum, and Nile’s creative thinking and wits were quite useful. It all saved them. They worked together day after day, hiding, hunting, building, gathering, and most importantly - caring for each other. It created an atmosphere that, unfortunately, none of them had experienced before. A feeling of trust and love, confidence and unity, strong bonds and passion.

It’s what helped them both raise Tate, in a way, and helped Avi hatch. In fact, the new family spent one whole day trying to decide on Avisa’s name - Nile tried to pick one that would suit her but also respect her known ancestors, considering she remembered some data logs about the origins of the egg, Ark wanted to give the mogwai child a chance to “earn” her name, which Nile found rather distasteful, meanwhile Tate kept wriggling, jumping and crawling around the newborn ikaroa, playing, giggling and snorting together with the newborn, probably finding a way of communication that Nile and Ark couldn’t comprehend, worried about words more.

At the very least, it felt wonderful. They could be worried about such little things. Words, emotions, comfort, rather than survival or future. They escaped. Not just the mogwai, but Nile, too. It didn’t matter if her family saw her as a betrayer then. Her family were traitors, liars too, cruel ones, wishing to put the mogwai - both rescued and offered to them - through harsh, awful tests and experiments.

Sometimes, she wondered why would the mogwai so easily give up their own children, trade them the way they had done. And the more she lived alongside Ark, Tate and Avi, the more she realized how ruthless, impulsive the mogwai were. It almost surprised her - why would humans, capable, cunning and clever like the Captain would abandon Solum long time ago? The mogwai were easy to manipulate. Nile refused to be taught, but was forced to anyway, and she was told how those emotionally and intellectually vulnerable (any alien was perceived as such, which probably lead to humans’ failure in their fight against the Xothians) were mostly inferior to calm and collected humans.

Perhaps violence was key. Mogwai killed, devoured, fought. The kind of violence that was seen as barbaric by humans, who preferred other kinds of it instead. Mogwai couldn’t be so easily controlled. Unless there was a way for someone to get close enough to the magical beasts. To form a connection with them. A bond stronger than the one Nile had with Ark at the time.

“I miss Ark.”

Nile put her bowl of soup down for a moment.

“I do too, sweetie.”

Tate blushed. She really hated how nice Nile was to her. It made her feel like a child. She wasn’t. She should’ve gone, instead of Avi - but they just left her behind. Was it luck, or a curse she’d regret later?

“I miss Avi, too. I should’ve gone with them,” Tate mumbled, poking her soup with a wooden spoon.

Nile sighed, looking down - it wasn’t the first time. It didn’t make it easier for her either. She was dying to see Ark again, and Avi, too. Safe. Back home. She cursed the war between the two worlds, both of which neglected them, abused them, took everything from them over and over.

“No, no. You shouldn’t have. In fact, none of us should have. Right, hold on, come here,” she poured the soup back into the big pot they had standing atop the fire. She took Tate’s bowl too, seeing how she just wouldn’t eat. It was cold anyway.

“I don’t want to,” Tate pouted.

“Come here. Come on.”

Tate cursed the whole world. She hated it. But she couldn’t resist, she knew it would calm her down. Swallowing her pride, trying to forget her principles, she shuffled over closer to Nile and snuggled up to her very, very close and closed her eyes. Just like a long, long time ago.

“There you go. Shh…” Nile whispered.

It sounded like sea waves. Far away. Not the ones here, even.

“You were meant for so much more than those pointless wars. When I look at you, I remember that one place my ancestors visited while looking for a place to settle in. Gamanomen… or, that is, Gamanomen’s belt, the planet itself apparently was way-y-y too hot to live on…” she told Tate the story, in a soothing voice. “Its colour, your eyes remind me of it.”

She could always see Tate’s eyes in the mogwai form, but the human form showed even more of them. Ever since Ark and Avi were taken, Tate decided to assume a different look. Something that didn’t look like those who forced her friends to fight. It was like a stab in the back to all warring mogwai. At the same time, it was rather ironic - it was humans who held her captive, too. Yet it was also a human who freed her. In the end, she also wanted to look a bit more like Nile. Be closer to her.

“Have you been there yourself?” Tate asked, muffled, her face buried in Nile’s clothes.

“Come again? the woman chuckled softly.

“Have- you been there, too?”

“No, no. I only saw it in pictures. Maybe we could go, together, some time? I’ll take you there.”

Tate blurted out:

“You promise?”

And immediately felt her whole face warm up and turn red. Thankfully, Nile couldn’t see. Just the tips of her ears.

“I promise. By the way, that’s where they found Avi. Perhaps, you were meant to meet each other, like this. Isn’t fate a weird thing to think about?”

“Wh- I can’t believe Avi got there first!” Tate said, and Nile could hear her sniffle a bit. She had to hug her tighter so it wouldn’t get worse.

Two of them were always so, so funny. So bright, so lively. Nile couldn’t imagine them at war. She could, of course, imagine mogwai taking part in such horrors without thinking twice, but she hated it. They didn’t have to go. She wanted to go back in time again and again.

She recalls one day, as she was returning from a long hike in the woods - gathering all they could use in the coming days - she heard sometimes so unusual, a sound she hadn’t heard in ages - a cat meowing, and rather angrily. Nile hurried back to their home camp only to find the two young mogwai - Avi and Tate - celebrate their victory over a cat sith mogwai that fell into a pitfall trap they’ve constructed earlier that week.

“Look! I caught it!” Avi yelled, poking the cat sith with a long stick.

“Hey! Would you let me out, little ones? Please? I can’t stay here,” the cat sith begged them, rather worried. He’d probably been sitting in there for a while.

“Yeah, we’ll get you out when we get hu-u-ungry. And moreover, I caught him, not you, Avi!” Tate corrected her friend. Or, perhaps, a rival? Nile could see the two got along, but not at all times.

“But we both dug the ho-o-ole!”

“Then why didn’t you say ‘we’, then, dummy?” Tate stuck her tongue out.

“Why didn’t you?” Avi asked, confused. Tate scooped a bunch of fallen leaves with her tail and threw it at Avi in response, hissing.

“Why don’t you two just let me out please?!” the captured cat sith yelled, then coughed a lot, straining his voice too much.

“Why don’t we all just calm down… let the poor traveller out of the hole.”

Nile then offered the travelling cat sith some food and shelther for the night, yet he only accepted the food and in return offered some remedies and a healer’s checkup for all of them. It was most difficult to convince Ark to let the healer to his job, she claimed it was itching and stinging her each time he’d use magic to heal her recent wounds she got while hunting and fending off feral mogwai. Nile had to hold onto Ark’s arm the whole time. Thankfully, the healer was quite patient, even with the younger mogwai that captured him earlier. 

“Hm. Oh no-no-no…” the cat sith said, seemingly distressed, as he took a look at little Avi.

“W-what’s wrong?” she mumbled, looking around - at the healer, at her family, then back at the traveller, again.

“Look at these long, long whiskers you have. They’ll keep growing, and one day you’ll turn into a cat sith… See how long mine are?” he said, chuckling menacingly, as he touched the long grey whiskers he had. Avi gulped.

“I don’t wanna become a cat sith… I wanna stay, and then I wanna dig some more holes with Tate, and maybe we can build a big boat and go to s-... se-...” Avi ranted on, but got confused in the end.

“Sea voyage,” Nile added, smiling widely. She felt that the healer teasing the young mogwai was rather justified, considering the warm welcome they offered him earlier. She did have to, however, hold Ark back - the isonade looked furious, but didn’t say anything.

“Sea voyage! I wanna be a sea voyage captain…” Avi said, standing up straight, as tall as she could. Her big eyes blinking.

“I can see why. Great voyages await… but not really the ones you think,” the cat sith chuckled, patting the little ikaroa on her nose.

In the end, while checking Nile’s condition, he felt rather nervous - the isonade was drilling him with the most frightening, threatening stare, as if any wrong movement would mean death for him.

The human escapee later regretted the cat sith didn’t come across their camp a week later - when she got bitten in the neck, quite dangerous. But, perhaps, fate governed everything, and things were meant to be the way they were meant to be. Before leaving their camp, the travelling healer said that everyone had purpose, and his purpose was to wander. He also mentioned feeling that Nile’s “memories will turn around and reveal much more”, whatever that could mean. Going back to her unusually clear earliest memories, to the memories of meeting Ark, escaping, she tried to understand, but couldn’t.

Mogwai came across their settlement - and that was quite fine by Nile. Mogwai were friends. Mogwai wouldn’t hurt them. As long as humans didn’t know where they were, all was fine.

Ark was extremely needy that day, as if fearing something. The bond between them grew stronger than Nile ever thought it would. It didn’t feel any different then, but it was apparent the moment the Den militia threatened to murder Nile if Ark and Avi didn’t join them.

Savages. This is what she got for saving mogwai? For putting so much faith in them? For enduring so much disdain from fellow humans when she preferred to sit in the Lab with those aliens instead of doing what the directives said? The Den was no different. Perhaps the two worlds were not meant to be. The betrayal of the Conjurer-Ambassador was appalling, too. She didn’t understand. Everything was destroyed. Everything she wanted.

Maybe the Xothians should have wiped them all out.

Or maybe the fate lead the way. That couldn’t be the end. She would wait as long as needed. Endure as much as needed, for everyone to be free in the end. At least those she cared about.

She remembers having to tear her lab coat apart for rags to tie things up, cover some wounds. Ripping bit after bit from it, it felt so rewarding. She saw Ark walk in on her doing it, heard her say something - always in such a sheepish, careful tone - but she couldn’t understand. She was so focused on destroying one of the symbols of that torture she opposed.

Ark then sat down outside the tent and waited the whole night for Nile to come out, eventually falling asleep there, but not before Tate and Avi found her and decided to wait with her, together. 

She had to get rid of it. But halfway through, she realized - who was she without the coat? What was she raised for? What was her purpose, anyway? Everyone had a purpose. Not knowing it was painful. Being unaware of their future was frightening. They made her think and question a lot, but only within the humans’ reason and the rules - yet it had been unleashed, and then she was free to fall into the depths of her own mind as she pleased.

Should she have stayed? Should she have looked away, from the eyes staring at her through the glass tank? It was only a matter of time until the pain and influence experiments would start. She couldn’t afford that. With their escape, a new time in their lives began - time without pain, without suffering, without fear.

Nile snapped out of it much later, only to discover the three of her friends - no, family - snore outside in the cold. It was hard at first, but Ark learned to give the human some space and time alone. Their relationship wasn’t always as bright as they all wished it had been. At the very least - and both Ark and Nile happily thought so - they never hurt the young ones in their quarrels. Keeping Avi and Tate - despite her protests - safe was their priority.

They deserved a childhood free of captivity and disgusting, inhumane rules forced upon them. Ark and Nile couldn’t have it, so they would make sure that Tate and Avi could.

Nile watched Tate slowly fall asleep in her lap.

It had been a long time since the escape. A long time without father and mother. She wondered if her father was dead yet. Mother didn’t live to see either of the Wars. She didn’t see the foolish First War, the unfortunate reason that led for the Great War, essentially. She didn’t see Nile escape. She didn’t see the Conjurer-Ambassador’s betrayal and what followed.

Nile clenched her teeth, watching the mogwai sleep peacefully. When the Conjurer-Ambassador stopped the ridiculous war for territory that would most likely be lost by the human explorers - because just one ship wouldn’t be enough - Nile thought it would all finally get better. Despite the great service that brave woman had done to every surviving human, the disdain continued. Nile heard vile comments not only about her, but about herself - just as usual.

Moglover. Alien suckup. Crazy mogster. Any other sort of ridiculous name that the children gave her, insult after another that would never be stopped by the indifferent, cold grown-ups. It only became worse with time, as the children learned words that cut deeper. Actions followed. The horrible things they said about her didn’t make her want to “come back to humans”, she only wished to spend even more time with Ark.

Her father, probably worrying about his family not fulfilling some ridiculous quota, talked to her almost every day, drilling through her skull, repeating everything to her but in a non-threatening, disgustingly sweet and careful manner, like poison. She didn’t want to hear him. She couldn’t even stand seeing him later on.

It was disgusting and she couldn’t take that anymore. Sometimes, she wondered whether it was the mogwai or her who escaped H.M.S. Tenebro that day. Who needed it more?

Her face twisted in a crying grimace. Tate was awake and saw it, confused.

“It’s- it’s OK, go back to sleep. Sweetie-”

Despite Nile slipping up and saying the word she didn’t like to be called, Tate immediately understood and got up a bit to wrap her arms around Nile and hold her close. It was her time to help. That was the way to survive the long wait. And there was Nile, then, having her turn at crying her eyes out.

Even the Conjurer-Ambassador, in the end, turned out to be the same old problem. Turned out to be just a human. Greedy, unstoppable. Nile felt sorry.

Sometimes, they sat down on the beach together - Ark and Nile. Avi and Tate would be running around elsewhere, probably digging up traps for wild animals and other mogwai, generally having fun - free.

Nile looked up at the stars, where her home was, perhaps. Somewhere deep in space, she was born, and belonged. And each time, Ark felt the need to remind her - her home was there now, on Solum.

“You don’t have to go anywhere. We’ll be fine here. The humans will soon settle in, I know it. Everything’s getting better ever since Conjurer-Ambassador stepped up. I’m actually… so impressed,” Ark said, pausing a lot, smiling to herself, shuffling on top of sand.

“You think so? Think they won’t try to go, again?”

“You won’t need to leave. You don’t have to. You already left them. They’re evil. But their children won’t have to be…”

“I probably won’t be there to see that, then. Ha. Ha-ha. Children. Oh dear… I bet my father is going to get a huge scolding for his family failing to meet the quota in the end,” Nile laughed to herself.

“T-t-the what quota?!” Ark sounded shocked.

“Then again, I suppose our family could bypass it anyway. It’s not mandatory, but it helps if you’re otherwise useless in a colony ship. Or so I read. Actually, I’m not sure if our ship had that. Scientists are sort of too busy working anyway…”

“You… don’t have to work much now, right,” Ark took her by the hand when she said it. “I’m with you.”

“... what’s that supposed to mean then?” Nile asked, smiling, so sly.

Ark looked away, coughing and chuckling nervously.

“Nothing. But. This is your home, as I’ve said. Everything will be fine. It doesn’t matter how long we’ll have to wait for things to calm down.”

“I like to think so, too,” Nile said and reached to rub Ark’s big nose, affectionately. She found her really cute when she wasn’t angry. “Do you think I could ride on top of you, into the sea?”

“I-... why would you want to do that?”

“Oh.”

Nile laughed a little bit, more in surprise at her own self. She covered her face with both of her palms.

“Oh dear. I’m so sorry. That sounds so… so stupid. Can’t believe we’ve been together like this for so long, and I still say silly things like this…”

“Hey, I mean. Back then. Kinda gave you and everyone else an underwater ride. I wouldn’t mind. Although it’s kind of weird to do on a daily basis or something… But then, you’re so wimpy, I bet you wouldn’t last a minute in water without me.”

“What?”

“Yeah! You ever learned how to swim?”

“... In theory.”

“Whuh- what do you mean ‘in theory’, how do you swim ‘in theory’!” Ark slapped the sand with her hands, making it fly up in the air.

“They didn’t install any sort of pool on our spaceship. I wish they did. I would’ve learned how to swim. I actually used to think how nice it’d be swim together. A bit silly, too, you were in captivity, in that tank… Sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me right now. I think I just realized we never really talked about all of these things. Everything back there,” Nile trailed off in her thoughts, looking somewhere far away at the horizon then.

“Do we need to talk about it?”

“I’d feel at ease.”

“On one condition…”

“What kind of?”

“No, two actually.”

“I’m listening, then,” Nile shuffled on the sand uncomfortably.

“First - don’t apologize all the time. I forgive you for anything, in advance. Second - you’ll let me teach you how to swim. Can’t have it like this.”

Nile smiled, brighter than ever. And she agreed. She felt happy, happier than ever, when she was with Ark. It was so different - talking to each other without the thick layer of glass between them. It felt incredible, and Nile just couldn’t get enough of this freedom. Ark didn’t think about it as much, however, simply thankful. She was going to be forever thankful.

Water reaching their feet was cold.

“Avi!..”

They were almost leaving. The ikaroa turned around. Eyes as big as the whole world, absorbing sorrow, painfully hurt. Like life was taken away from her, but she was still walking.

Nile knew it would be too hard on her.

“Avi… take this. Don’t think, don’t question, just take it-”

“Are we moving out yet? What’s that chit-chat?!”

“Avi, it was for your birthday, but it’s too late now… take it.”

“What is it?” she looked at the gift. It was like a big, round bug with a weird cold carcass connected to a chain. Coloured in such an odd manner, and something within it moved. It let out weird sounds, ticking.

“I’ll wait for both of you. Please stay safe.”

Avi hid the present quickly. Up until that day, she didn’t have to worry about time. Later on, she’d learn all about it. The pocket watch counted seconds again and again, again and again. Sometimes Avi tried stopping it - holding it tightly in her hands, but it didn’t work. She even figured out how to tweak and set it up, stop and make it tick again - but it only made the pocket watch halt, not the time around it.

Mogwai were running out of time. Humans were, too. She was running late. Running out of time on her transport runs. A lot of fellow mogwai ran out of their time right before her eyes. Some day, Nile was going to run out of time. Looking at it, she just hoped that at least Solum wouldn’t run out of time, so she would have time to go on her sea voyage.

She tried to remember, but it was so hard. She could faintly picture Ark and Nile, together at the campfire. Happy. Tate was next to her, so grumpy. Another fine evening, just as it should have always been. She put the pocket watch away. It didn’t matter where she was - floating, still unhatched, somewhere in the Gamanomen’s Belt, or sitting at the beach with her family, or carrying more and more soldiers to their certain death. Time mercilessly went on.


End file.
